13 Sept. 2010

Family,

First of all, when I die, make sure no one feels obligated to come to my funeral. Especially distant relatives. Also make sure it only lasts an hour. This week there were two funerals in our area, and it basically froze our work.

"No, I can't come to church, I have to go to my cousins funeral for 3 days"

"Oh, was it your first cousin?" (I asked this question, knowing what the answer would be)

"Well, actually it was the son of the second cousin of a woman that was pretty much raised with my mother"

"..."

This really happened. I couldn't believe it.

Anyway, something pretty interesting happened to us last night. Elder Wright and I were out knocking doors, and we walked past this girl who talked to us for a minute, but then we kind of brushed it off and kept going. After a few more houses, we walked back out to the road, and there she was walking our way again. She asked us if we knew Jenny (obviously we do), and then asked a little about what we were doing. We soon learned she left her parents' religion (Jehovah's Witnesses), resulting in her basically being exiled. After learning she used to be JW, I knew that this was the girl that one of the Young Men has been talking about for months. He has a huge crush on her, so we'll probably tease him about it next time we see him. Anyway, she works 2 jobs to support herself while she lives on her own. It was pretty sad, but I think it shows at least a little desire to find truth, if she's willing to go through all of that. We scheduled to visit her on Tuesday.

I got to have McDonald's in Guam last Monday, that was pretty cool. They even have Chili's and Wendy's and Subway. We're missing out here, that's for sure.

Oh, I almost forgot. We had another baptism on Saturday. I almost forgot because the senior couple taught her. We weren't really involved in the teaching at all, but she's been coming to church for months, even institute and activities. She just had to be taught, and we thought that since she's a woman, it would be easier for the couple to teach her. I got to interview, and her English isn't very good (she's from the Philippines), so I brought someone with me to translate. It was a great experience.

As I'm trying to teach Elder Wright Palauan, I realize how much I would hate to be learning all over again. It brings me back to see him struggle with the same things that I did. I think he'll be able to learn really quickly. I'm excited for him.

Love,

Elder Barlow